Carrington
by MissBellaRose
Summary: I am a house-elf. Okay, so maybe I'm not actually a house elf, but I do live at Hogwarts, cook for the students and help tidy up around the castle. The only difference is that I don't wear a dishcloth. I do unfortunately have pointy ears and an issue


**Chapter 1: Blueberry pie**

Carrington

My name is Carrington Clarke and I live at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That's right, live, although I haven't actually attended any classes for about seventy two years, you see, I don't age. No, I'm not a ghost, although I sometimes wish I was. Don't you think that would be cool, to be able to float through walls? Anyway, I don't age and I don't know why. I don't even know where I came from, all I know is that I woke up one day, a very long time ago, to find that I didn't know who I was or where I was. The headmaster at that time knew something about me, I know he did, but he wouldn't tell, I still don't know. He was a kind man though and let me stay at Hogwarts. The first few years I attended classes, but instead of graduating with the rest of my class, I stayed at Hogwarts, at the time there was no other options for a seventeen year old girl other than school, being a maid servant or being married. I took the school option.

Since then I have been a house-elf. Okay, so maybe I'm not actually a house elf, but I do live at Hogwarts and I do cook for the students in the kitchens and I do help tidy up around the castle. The only difference is that I don't wear a dishcloth. I do unfortunately have pointy ears and an issue with height. I don't really mind having to clean and cook, in fact I love to cook. My blueberry pie is the best thing you will ever taste, I swear. The cleaning isn't so bad either, we get to use magic and there are a lot of house-elves so you don't really have to do much, just clean your assigned area. You'd be surprised how many love notes and confession letters get left on study tables in common rooms. Jeesh, if it weren't for the house elves and I, half the schools secrets would be out of the bag.

House-elves are the eyes and ears of Hogwarts and I know everything about everyone in this school. Half the stuff I wish I didn't know. For example, once I found a letter from Hannah Tomesca to her boyfriend Brad Crafters. It was very visual in its descriptions and had far too much information for my liking, I can't look at either of them without shuddering now. The Marauders are the worst though, they leave plans for pranks and blueprints and other things they really wouldn't want the school to see everywhere. I always pack it all up and take it to their dormitory and they just presume that one of the others has done it.

I live in the North-east tower, behind a portrait of a ballerina who snores quite loudly. Nobody knows I am here except for the teachers and Dumbledore, the current headmaster. I stay hidden from the students, not wanting to have to answer questions with answers that are hard to understand, even to me. It isn't really that hard to do, I just use the various secret passages around the school. After living in the castle for such a long time I'm pretty sure I've found each and every single passage and trick stair and secret room and any other secrets this castle has to offer. I've seen the map the Marauders made, and whilst their knowledge is extensive compared to what most students know, it still doesn't show the entire castle as they believe it does.

The Marauders are an interesting bunch. I have never seen anybody have as much control over the entire school as they do, and it started in first year as well, even the seventh years respected them and could be controlled by them. At first I think it was because the entire school was scared of being the target of their pranks, but now that they are older, they just ooze popularity. The Marauders consist of four seventh year Gryffindor's; James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

James Potter is the Gryffindor quidditch star, he's a chaser and I am certain that he will be made Quidditch Captain next year. He has messy black hair, hazel eyes and a dazzling smile that makes girls swoon, all but one at least. Potter has been in love with Lily Evans since third year and she despises him. I try to give him as much help as I can, I really do, but he is a lost cause. He just doesn't understand the female mind at all.

Sirius Black is the ladies man of Hogwarts, jumping from one girl to the next every week. You're considered special if you last longer than a fortnight. The reason the girls flock after him is easy to see. The boy is gorgeous, soft black hair, deep grey eyes with a mischievous twinkle and a cheeky grin. Yes, I am sadly a fan girl of Sirius Black, and I've never even spoke to the boy.

Remus Lupin is said to be the responsible Marauder because he is the only one with a prefect status. He is attractive as well, only in an understated way. He doesn't date much because of his lycanthropy; yes I know about that, I even helped to plant the Whomping Willow the summer before the Marauders were first years. Recently I've noticed he has a thing for Charlotte Burke, which I find an odd match. Charlotte is loud, outgoing and well, completely crazy at times, which is the complete opposite to Remus. Maybe they would balance each other out?

The last Marauder is Peter Pettigrew. He is a quiet boy, a bit of a follower but when I pack up the Marauder's things I notice that a lot of it is in his writing. Whether he just does the manual labour or he is actually the mastermind behind the pranks, I'm not sure. He's a bit of a mystery to me. He's not as attractive as his three friends, not that he is ugly, just that the other three are so handsome that he looks plain next to them.

You may wonder how I know so much about all the students. Well as I have already said, it's amazing what you can find out from reading pieces of paper that get left lying around. Also, I have an invisibility cloak that I use to venture into the school to be around people. It gets lonely sometimes with only house-elves and a barmy old headmaster for company. I like to watch people, to observe human nature. It hasn't changed much over the hundred plus years I've been here. The language has, the clothes have and the fads have, but basic human nature stays the same. You'd be surprised just how many typical characters you can find. There is one in every grade for some characters, the bookworm, the drama queen, the athlete, others you only get once every few years or so. It's interesting to watch people and sometimes I think that maybe that is a bit creepy a bit like I am stalking, but then I remind myself that it is kind of like science, and field work is okay.

Tonight the house-elves and I are working extra hard. The students come back tonight so the castle must be spotless and the food must be even better than usual. When the students are away for the summer holidays I can wander around the castle without having to worry about people seeing me. I take walks around the lake, go flying on the quidditch pitch and play gobstones with the headmaster in the great hall. Even though I have to go back to my secret life at the end of summer, I still love when the students come back. I get to watch them again, to get to know how they have all grown over the holidays. In some ways it feels like each and every single student is my friend. I help them out so much, and they never know it, but I don't mind, I'm used to it by now.

**SEPTEMBER 1- TUESDAY**

Sirius

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. How are we all on this fine afternoon?" Remus says happily as he enters our carriage, shortly followed by Peter.

"What's got you so chipper?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Charlotte smiled at him" Peter answers for him.

"Oh, I see" I answer, understanding the implications of a single smile. Remus has been pining over Charlotte Burke for over a year now, but he won't do anything about it because of the whole him being a werewolf thing. Stupid if you ask me, she's a good girl and would understand for sure.

"Where's Prongs?" Remus asks me. I shrug,

"I think he went to bug Evans" Again, I mentally add.

"Again? Why can't he just face the fact that she will not go out with him?" Remus says. I raise an eyebrow,

"Then why can't you just accept the fact that Charlotte will not care that you are a werewolf and you should just ask her out already?"

"That's a different thing altogether, Padfoot! You know why I can't do that, now stop bugging me about it, it's for her own good." he says angrily.

"Okay okay, I'll leave you alone" I say, throwing my hands up in defeat. Stupid, stubborn wolf.

"Potter! Just leave me alone dammit! Why can't you get that through your fat head? Oh that's right probably because your enormous ego takes up all the room!" a yell comes from outside the carriage.

"I'm not all that bad, Evans. Just give me one chance!" I hear James plead.

"Come on, lets go and save Prongs from the fury of Evans" We all stand up and make our way out of the carriage. Lily Evans is standing in front of James with her hands on her hips, glaring up at him. Yes, I do mean up at him, he towers over her and it makes her look a lot less intimidating.

"Come on, Prongs. Leave Evans alone, you can try again tomorrow" I say, winking at Lily.

"No, he most certainly cannot try again tomorrow!" she shrieks, her face bright red.

"Don't worry, Flower, you'll be seeing me" James tells her before turning into our carriage. Lily yells in frustration and throws her arms in the air.

"Let's go, Charlotte. Leave these imbeciles to make Potter's ego even bigger" she says before storming down the train.

"Bye, Remus! Bye, Sirius! Bye, Peter!" Charlotte yells as she runs after Lily. We wave at her and Remus practically squeals.

"She said bye to me!"

"She says that a lot, Moony. She is our friend" Peter tells him, patting him on the back and shaking his head in bemusement. Lily is the only girl in school who doesn't like us, even though she gets along with Remus quite well. All her friends are quite happy to sit with us at meals and in class so she usually gets dragged along as well, much to James' delight.

Back in our carriage, James is trying to convince us and himself that Lily will eventually go out with him. Not likely.

"What did you say to het this time to make her so mad anyway, Prongs?" Remus asks James.

"I told her that I was looking forward to working very closely with her this year considering we are both Heads" James tells us and I chuckle.

"Yeah, I can imagine she wasn't too happy to find out that you are Head Boy this year. Do you think she's worked out that you have to share a common room yet?" I say. We laugh as we imagine to look on Lily's face when she realises just how much time she will have to spend in James' company this year and then we laugh even harder as we catch sight of the dazed look on Prongs' face.

"So, is the start of year prank all worked out?" I ask Peter. You wouldn't believe it because he is so quiet, but Peter is actually the mastermind behind a lot of our pranks. He is really good at strategic planning and can imagine every scenario that could happen. He is also a very good liar and can usually get us out of any situation. With his excuses, mine and James' charm and Remus' prefect status we get away with a lot more than the average student.

"Yeah, we just need to put the potion into the food, so we need to get into the kitchens" Peter answers.

"I can do that, I'll run down there and put it in the food and be back before anybody notices." I say. Peter nods and pulls out a vial from his pocket.

"All you need is three drops in each dish you are going to put it in" he tells me, handing me the vial of maroon liquid.

"This is going to be so brilliant" says James, excitedly.

"Nobody will expect a potion, usually we use all charms and spells so a potion should catch them off guard. It should last a while since they will first try to find a counter-charm when it should be an antidote they are looking for." Remus says.

"We're going to get a week of detentions for this" I chuckle. Detention is not really a big deal for us anymore.

"No way, Padfoot! On the first night back? Nah, it will be two detentions, one with McGonagall and one with Slughorn" James argues.

"I reckon it will be a month of detentions with Slughorn, you know what he is like with house pride" Peter puts in.

"Okay then, I bet it will be one detention, a really bad one of manual labour, supervised by old One-eye." Says Remus.

"So, the bets are on the table, boys. What are we betting?" James asks.

"Blueberry pie, winner takes all" I say. There is a shocked silence, then the others all speak at once.

"No way!"

"You've got to joking!"

"Anything but that!"

"What? Scared you're going to lose?" I taunt. Their faces turn to determination and once again they all speak at once.

"You're on"

"Just you wait until I'm eating your pie"

"I never lose!"

Yes, this is how serious we get about pie. The thing is though, it's not just any pie, it's Hogwarts Blueberry Pie, and it is the most amazing thing you will ever taste, I swear. It is only made for feasts on special occasions and unlike the rest of the food, more doesn't appear when it is all finished so there is always a big fight over the last piece. The others don't know what they are getting themselves into. I have worked out the secret formula for getting detentions, and I'm really quite proud of it. It took me many nights of detentions to get it worked out but I still have some tweaking to do, which is why I haven't told the boys about it yet. By my rule though, a blow at house pride in the fashion we are going about it, will get us a week.

"Well, I'm going to have to go and patrol the carriages for a while now. I'll see you guys later." Remus says as he goes off to do his prefect duties. Peter challenges James to a game of chess and I lean against the window, watching the scenery whiz past. Next year, it will be our very last train ride to school and I'm not sure how I feel about that just yet.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I must have because the next thing I know, Remus is shaking me awake, telling me I have to get changed quickly because we will be arriving at Hogsmede very soon. I grab my robes from my bag and tug them on, nearly falling over in the process when the train pulls up at Hogsmede station. We leave the train and make our way to the carriages, making sure we get one to ourselves so that we can plan last minute details for our start of term prank. Timing is everything. On our arrival at the school, I quickly leave the carriage and transform when no one is looking. In my animagus form I bound down the stairs until I reach the kitchens. The house-elves look up when I enter but go straight back to their duties when they see who it is. What can I say, I'm a regular. There are four large tables set up in the massive kitchens that are located under the great hall. The tables have plates of food all over them, magically staying warm before they are magically transported from these tables onto the tables that are directly above.

I make my way over to the Slytherin table and pull out the vial of maroon liquid. I shake it gently before I unstopper it and carefully put the required amount in several of the dishes, smirking as I imagine the Slytherin's faces when they see what happens. I am about to put the stopper back on the vial when a very flustered girl comes running into the kitchens, muttering something about pie.

Carrington

I can't believe I forgot about the pie! It's the only thing I have to help cook for the start of term feast and I forgot! I got so excited that the students were returning that it completely slipped my mind. I run through the hallways and take a back passage to avoid the students who are already arriving in the entrance hall. I rush into the kitchen and hurriedly make my way to my section of the kitchen that the house-elves let me have to myself, tying an apron around my waist as I go. I think the house-elves think that I will just get in the way if I try to cook with them so I do things separately. It may also be because they want to keep me as far away from the leaning tower of pots and pans they have stacked in the far corner of the kitchen. I accidently knocked it over one day and caused a tsunami of kitchenware to wipe out half the kitchen. I pointedly ignore the disapproving looks I receive from the house-elves and turn on the oven. Most of the house-elves don't like me, they think it's strange to have me around when I appear to be one of the students. I do have friends among the house-elves though, particularly my friend Cookie. I turn around to make my way to the ingredients cupboard and see something that makes me freeze.

Why is Sirius Black in the kitchens?

This is not good. In fact, this is very bad. I don't exist, he can't be seeing me! Oh Merlin, what do I do? I start to panic and a fantastic idea pops into my head.

"This is an optical illusion!" I yell waving my arms in front of me.

Okay, so it seemed fantastic when it was in my head. Really, it did!

Sirius lifts a brow and I blush, admiring his eyebrow raising skills. I always wished I could do that. He smirks at me and I scowl. I walk towards him and take him by his upper arm, dragging him to the kitchen entrance.

"Sirius Black, get out of the kitchen right now!" I say sternly. He crosses his arms and glares at me.

"I have just as much right to be here as you do" he tells me. I almost laugh at his presumptuous attitude, but I hold back.

"You shouldn't be here before the feast and you definitely don't have as much right to be here as I do. Trust me on that one. Now, hurry up and leave or else there will be no pie for the feast"

"Blueberry pie?" he asks eagerly. I nod, frowning. Why does it matter what kind of pie? I just need him out. Preferably now.

"What's your name?" he asks. I roll my eyes and shove him out the portrait.

'That's for me to know and for you to never find out, Sirius" I say before slamming the portrait closed and locking it. I lean against the door and breathe heavily. Oh Merlin! I just hope he forgets all about this encounter. Oh shoot, the pie! I rush around making pastry and adding various ingredients to the blueberry mixture that will go inside the pie. I am lucky that the pie doesn't have to be ready to go up with the first lot of food but goes up with the second lot, and the best lot in my opinion. Dessert, yum! With a little help from Cookie, I get the pies onto the tables just in time and collapse in a chair in relief. I think that was a record, thank Merlin for magic.

Sirius

I continue to stand and stare at the door to the kitchens bemusedly for a few minutes before I shake my head and turn away. That certainly was strange! Who is that girl and why is she not at the feast? At least I got the potion into the food before she kicked me out. Speaking of which, I have to make it up to the Great Hall quick smart.

I waltz into the Great Hall with the last few people and make my way over to the Gryffindor table, winking at my mates just as McGonagall says, "Alberton, Aaron". By the time we get to "Semmings, Hayley" I am bored out of my mind and impatient for our prank to start. By the time "Windsor, Sophie" is sorted into Ravenclaw I have started to flick bits of paper into Wormtail's hair. When "Zellings, Matthew" is finally sorted into Slytherin I am slumped on the table in a coma-like state. I don't even hear Dumbledore pronounce the start of the feast and Remus elbows me in the ribs to get my attention.

"It's about to start, so you can pay attention now" he hisses. I grin and look over to the Slytherin table. The snakes pile food onto their plates and start to eat, only a few of them muttering to each other in low voices. They're such an unfriendly bunch. Suddenly a shout comes from one end of the table. A second year boy is pointing at his friends hair, which has just turned red with gold spots. People around the hall turn around in their seats and start to point and laugh at the sight. More shouts, cursing and threatening comes from the table as more and more of the Slytherin's display the Gryffindor colours in their hair. I am laughing so much that tear are tracking their way down my cheeks while next to me, James is struggling to breathe.

"You'll pay for this, Black!" Lucius Malfoy threatens.

"You to, Potter!" Severus Snape adds.

"Yeah, sure, Snivellus" I laugh, giving Peter a high five.

Over at the Slytherin table, Professor Slughorn is trying to reverse the effects of the potion. Just as we predicted they don't even consider that it could be a potion and are only trying to reverse charms, jinxes and hexes. My laughter starts to die down and I wipe my eyes and turn back to the table to eat when Professor McGonagall comes storming towards us.

'My office. Now!" she barks. The four of us wearily rise and follow her out of the hall, glancing a longing look at the blueberry pie which has just arrived on the tables.

"I am very disappointed, in all of you!" McGonagall says strictly once we are all seated in her office.

"I would have expected better from all of you, this is your last year. Don't mess it up ." She sighs and sits behind her desk, regarding us sternly.

'You will each receive a months worth of-"

"Nah, come on, Minnie!" I interrupt, "admit it, it felt pretty damn good to see the Slytherin's decked out in Gryffindor colours didn't it? And you must be impressed that both Flitwick and Slughorn have both been unable to do it?"

"That still gives no excuse. As I was saying, you will each receive a week's worth of detention" Our head of house says. I grin and James slaps me on the back.

"Can we go back to the feast now Professor?" Remus asks. Professor McGonagall pauses and shows us a tight lipped smile. That smile is never a good thing.

"No, you may not return to the feast. You will all return to your dormitory and remain there until tomorrow morning. I have no doubt that that will punish you more than the detention. Goodnight, boys."

"Well, I just can't wait to be eating your pie!" I laugh as soon as we are out of hearing range from McGonagall's office.

"Speaking of pie, I'm hungry!" Peter whines. I am about to answer when my stomach answers for me.

"I think Padfoot agrees with you, mate" James laughs. I grin and spin on my heel heading back down the staircase we have just climbed.

"Time for a trip to the kitchens, boys" I call over my shoulder. As my friends hurry after me I suddenly remember the strange girl in the kitchens. Who is she? I can't remember having seen her before although she looked like she would be in our year or maybe in sixth year. I thought I knew all the girls at Hogwarts, after all, most of them belong to my fan club.

Remus tickles the pear and we all stand in front of the portrait grinning like maniacs as the entrance to the kitchens is revealed. The kitchen is our third favourite place in the whole of Hogwarts. The first, of course, being the Room Of Requirement and the second being our every trusty dorm room, even when it does start to smell.

I'm slightly disappointed when the mystery girl is not in the kitchens when we enter but am distracted when the house-elves swarm around us with plates of food. We take a hamper of food from the feast, including an amazing blueberry pie, back up to our dorm room and have a picnic on the floor, James deciding to spend the night in the dorm rather than go to the Heads quarters.

"When I went into the kitchens earlier tonight there was a girl in there" I tell the guys. They continue eating but make noises of approval to show that they are listening. "Yeah, she kicked me out actually, said I had no right to be in the kitchens before the feast"

"Well, I suppose we can't be the only ones in the entire school who know about the kitchens. Maybe she was just embarrassed to be caught in the kitchens herself" Moony reasons.

"Maybe, but you know what was weird? She looked about our age but I have never seen her before, I don't even know what house she might be in" I say.

"That is weird for you, you know almost every girl in the school over the age of fifteen" James says, and I nod, shoveling a spoonful of pie into my mouth.

"Maybe she's a transfer student?" Peter suggests and I shrug, going back to my pie. I figure that I can ask her name when I see her again, Hogwarts is a small world after all.


End file.
